in spite of the temptations held out to him, many
years elapsed ere he and Lady Mounchensey revisited the scene of their
troubles in London.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

Retribution.

As will have been foreseen, the judgment pronounced by Prince Charles
upon Mompesson and his partner, was confirmed by the King and the Lords
of the Council, when the two offenders were brought be them in the
Star-Chamber. They were both degraded from the honour of knighthood; and
Mitchell, besides being so heavily fined that all his ill-gotten wealth
was wrested from him, had to endure the in of riding through the
streets--in a posture the reverse of the ordinary mode of
equitation--name with his face towards the horse's tail, two quart pots
tied round his neck, to show that he was punished I for his exactions
upon ale-house keepers and hostel-keepers, and a placard upon his
breast, detailing the nature of his offences. In this way,--hooted and
pelted by the rabble, who pursued him as he was led along, and who would
have inflicted serious injuries upon him, and perhaps despatched him
outright, had it not been for the escort by whom he was protected,--he
was taken in turn to all such taverns and houses of entertainment as
had suffered most from his scandalous system of oppression.

In the course of his progress, he was brought to the Three Cranes in the
Vintry, before which an immense concourse was assembled to witness the
spectacle. Though the exhibition made by the culprit, seated as he was
on a great ragged beast purposely selected for the occasion, was
sufficiently ludicrous and grotesque to excite the merriment of most of
the beholders, who greeted his arrival with shouts of derisive laughter;
still his woe-begone countenance, and miserable plight--for he was
covered with mud from head to foot--moved the compassion of the
good-natured Madame Bonaventure, as she gazed at him from one of the
upper windows of her hostel, and the feeling was increased as the
wretched old man threw a beseeching glance at her. She could stand the
sight no longer, and rushed from the window.

In the same room with her there were four persons, who had been
partaking of a plentiful repast, as was proved by the numerous dishes
and flasks of wine garnishing the table at which they had been seated,
and they, too, as well as the hostess, on hearing the noise outside the
tavern, had rushed to the windows to see what could cause so much
disturbance. As they w